On This Day In Judy Garland’s Life And Career – March 15

“A Garland performance became an object lesson in courage, vulnerability and blazing talent.” – John J. O’Connor on “The Judy Garland Show,” for “The New York Times,” 1992

March 15, 1930: Frances (Judy) participated in the “Children’s Fashion Revue,” at Walker’s Department Store in Lancaster, California. It’s a shame there are no known photos of Judy in the event.

March 15, 1934: The last night of a week-long engagement for “The Gumm Sisters” (Judy and her sisters) at the Fox Theater in San Francisco, California. Also on this day, Judy sang at the Club Oasis, also in San Francisco.

March 15, 1938: Judy was still in Chicago (staying at the Palmer House) when her mother (Ethel) wrote to a family friend on this date. Ethel relayed that she was answering all of Judy’s fan mail, which was about 100 letters a day at that point. Ethel also noted that the fan mail was so much she had just hired a girl who “comes in three times a week for about four hours” to help with the mail.

While Judy was in Chicago, photographer Maurice Seymour took these wonderful photos of her.

March 15, 1941: Judy appeared on the “Islam Temple Shrine Saint Patrick’s Day Program” on NBC Radio broadcast out of Los Angeles, California. Judy sang “Wearing of the Green.”

Still in theaters, and in time for St. Patrick’s Day, was the very Irish Little Nellie Kelly starring Judy and George Murphy.

March 15, 1945: Filming continued on The Harvey Girls on the “Interior R.R. Coach” and “Interior Parlor” sets. This photo of Judy on the coach set was taken on this day. Time called: 10 a.m.; Judy arrived at 10:35 a.m.; dismissed at 5:50 p.m.

March 15, 1948: Judy canceled a scheduled portrait photo sitting for Easter Parade. From mid-March through early May of 1948 Judy had a two-month vacation. She had become very thin and exhausted from the dual obligations of filming both Easter Parade and extensive retakes for The Pirate. She returned to the studio on May 20th to begin work on Words and Music.

March 15, 1949: Judy had wardrobe fittings for Annie Get Your Gun from 12:45 p.m. – 2 p.m. From 2 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. she and co-star Howard Keel rehearsed their songs, including “You Can’t Get A Man With A Gun”; “Anything You Can Do”; “They Say It’s Wonderful”; and “The Girl That Marry.”

March 15, 1950: Judy returned to MGM after a short break to record “Get Happy” for Summer Stock, her final pre-recording and film performance for the studio. According to the Daily Music Report, Judy recorded at least 12 takes. #12 is the only take that was “printed” meaning the only one that was kept for use.

March 15, 1964: “Episode Twenty-Four” of “The Judy Garland Show” aired on CBS-TV. The show was taped on February 23, 1964, at CBS Television City, Stage 43, Hollywood, California. This taping was just two days after the previous episode’s taping. A busy week for Judy!

Judy’s guest for this “Semi-Concert” was Vic Damone. Judy sang: “Lucky Day”; “Sweet Daner”; “Do I Love You?”; “I Love You”; “When Your Lover Has Gone”; “Down With Love”; “Old Devil Moon”; “Never Will I Marry”; “Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home”; “Chicago”; and a “Kismet Medley” with Damone. For the “Born In A Trunk” spot, Judy sang “Lost In The Stars.” Outtakes of the “Kismet Medley” and “Lost In The Stars” survive and were released on the DVD of the show.

March 15, 1969: Judy married her last husband, Mickey Deans, at the Chelsea Registry Office in London, England, at noon.

That previous January 28, Judy made international headlines with the news of her secret marriage to Mickey Deans. She had returned the “Talk of the Town” the night before (January 27, 1969) for the first time since her bad night of January 23rd. She told the audience that she and Deans had recently been married and that they would soon go on a honeymoon.

The secret ceremony happened on January 9, 1969, in a chapel at St. Marylebone Parish (in London) and was given by Reverend Peter Delaney. The ceremony wasn’t actually legal. The divorce papers for Judy’s marriage to Mark Herron had not been picked up. Judy and Deans were finally legally married on March 15, 1969.

Here is more footage of Judy and Mickey Deans outside of the Chelsea Registry Office:

March 15, 2005: “Swing Into Spring” – The deluxe 2-disc edition of Easter Parade on DVD was released. This was the film’s premiere on DVD. The mid-2000s were a kind of “golden age” for Garland films on DVD with Warner Home Video releasing most of Judy’s films on DVD for the first time.

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2 comments

One of the true benchmarks of how far Judy had sunk by this time, is how alienated she had become from her children. Five years before, it would’ve been UNTHINKABLE for her to be apart from the three, especially Lorna and Joey. Unless I’m mistaken, I don’t think Judy physically saw them more than once or twice (if that) in the last six months of her life.